HIGHER PAY WON'T BUY BETTER EDUCATION

In his March 20 letter, Bob Haisman, president of the Illinois Education Association, was critical of the work done by Jim Tobin of the Illinois Taxpayer Education Foundation (ITEF).

It's no surprise that Haisman would belittle Tobin's findings concerning the salaries of public school teachers. Haisman's organization is the Illinois affiliate of a major player in the state's educational bureaucracy.

Public school teachers are represented by two of the most powerful organizations in American labor. The National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers have been highly successful in some areas, while failing our nation's children in what should be their primary task: educating them.

Perhaps these unions have prospered most by promoting the misconception that the quality of education has a direct correlation with the amount of money a teacher makes. This has led to the educational bureaucracy making the education of children secondary to its primary goal, which is raising teachers salaries.

On the whole, public school teachers are dedicated to their profession. Yet, due to the heavy-handed influence of the NEA and the AFT, American education lags behind nearly every industrialized nation. Yet the call continues to go forth for higher salaries and increased funding for education overall.

Indeed, our nation's public educators are among the best paid in the world, so why do academic test scores fall so woefully short?

Perhaps it is how and what children are being taught in the American classroom that is creating the problem.

Class size has been a rallying point for the teachers union. They claim 25 to 30 students per class is unmanageable and, in part, a reason for the failure of public education. However, private schools average more students per classroom and still manage to greatly outperform their public-school counterparts and, contrary to union spin, many of these schools accept almost anyone who applies.

In a way, public education and the monolithic bureaucracy that dominates it have lived a life protected from political, social and media criticism. The myth of underpaid teachers has thrived under the protective umbrella of political correctness. Criticizing teachers, administrators and the system itself has been akin to attacking moms and apple pie.

It's time to put blame where it belongs. The nation has not received what it has paid for from public education. For too long, the buck has been passed and, most assuredly, misspent.

Learning is not dependent upon a teacher's salary, class size or shiny new building. Good education results from sound methodology, appropriate curriculum and common sense. Perhaps when and if the teachers unions and those whom they represent adhere to these principles, the nation can, once again, lead the way in academic quality.

Tobin and the work done by his organization have obviously ruffled some feathers. But the citizens of Illinois are entitled to all the information they can get when it comes to the education of children.